


Careful

by dobrien



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, first I love you's, only a little angst tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 19:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11858253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dobrien/pseuds/dobrien
Summary: Unknown hunters are in town and Stiles just wants to help.Prompt no. 4 fromthislist.





	Careful

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure about the ending, I find them difficult. Please tell me what you think!
> 
> The pack consist of the original group of Derek, Stiles, Scott, Allison, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and Lydia (not Jackson).

_"You can't be too careful anymore, when all that is waiting for you. Won't come any closer, you've got to reach out a little more."_

_Careful / Paramore_

*******

"Can I join you?"

"It's too dangerous, Stiles." Derek insisted as the rest of the group began leaving the loft.

They were heading to the preserve - because it's _always_ the preserve where things go wrong. Hunters had shot at Isaac the night before as he was conducting his patrol of the area and they would no doubt be roaming the woods again, now they knew that there was a pack around.

"You need me!" Stiles tries again. "I have a bat, that's just as good a weapon as Allison's bow!"

Allison frowned in their direction, clearly unimpressed with the comparison.

"Exactly, we need you. So you're staying where you're safe." Derek declared, making it final. "We'll keep you updated." He lent in to give Stiles a kiss goodbye, and if Stiles wasn't so nervous about the thought of Derek possibly not coming back from the woods, he would have stepped back and glared at his boyfriend. In actual fact, Stiles _was_ worried. Isaac had been hurt pretty badly, he didn't want to think about what would have happened if he had been caught. 

When he argued that Allison and Lydia were _also_ human he was met with eye rolls and Scott pointing out that Allison had her bow and Lydia was technically a banshee, so not completley human. It didn't make him any less bitter about being left behind, though. It was as if they believed he'd been in the way, a distraction. Leaning against the table in the loft, staring absentmindedly at the heavy door after it closed behind them all, Stiles made up his mind.

He was going. Whether Derek or the rest of the pack liked it or not, he was helping them find these hunters. With determination he left the building, checking that his bat was on the back seat before setting off.

He knew it'd be difficult to find his friends, they'd be close to the preserve now, possibly already there, and they were all pretty fast. He'd have to track them. He parked next to Allison's Toyota, listening out for any indication that they were near by as he retrieved the bat and locked the jeep behind him.

Using his phone as a torch in one hand, and gripping his bat in the other, Stiles made his way past the warning sign which everyone seemed to ignore, and followed the signs of numerous footprints into the woods.

He had been walking for at least 20 minutes before he heard movement and a body was suddenly slamming into him, sending him crashing into the dirt covered ground. "What the fu-" he shouted, startled, as he looked around to see what the weight on him was.

It wasn't someone he knew. A man with dark stubble and a smirk on his face was staring back at Stiles, hands keeping his shoulders pressed down, legs pining his arms and hips.

"What are you doing, kid?"

Stiles resisted rolling his eyes. "I'm eighteen."

The older man scoffed, "I don't care. Why are you here?"

"A guy can't take a stroll around the woods, now?"

"He's either a hunter or an emissary." Another males voice said, dumping Stiles' bat, which had gone flying, next to Stiles' head. "Judging by the bat, I'd guess an emissary that got left behind."

"Not good enough at your job?" The man pining Stiles down sneered.

"Why are you here?" Stiles grit out, avoiding their teasing. It would be stupid to allow them to see that it hurt.

"To kill werewolves, it's what we do, right Mark? But you already know that." The man who had dropped his bat replied.

"You can't kill them unless they hurt someone who's innocent."

They laughed, Mark pushing down slightly harder onto Stiles' shoulder blades. "Maybe we should give them a reason to want to hurt us then."

Stiles screwed his eyes shut as he was hauled to his feet and manhandled so that his arms were tied behind his back with cable ties. They started walking, both keeping an iron grip on his forearms, and headed back towards where the cars were parked. Thinking of it, Stiles had noticed a nondescript black van parked a little way away from the preserve and _why hadn't he put two and two together?_ He was slipping.

They didn't make it to the entrance before there were load growls from behind them and an arrow was fired, not close enough to do damage, but close enough to scare. The pack had found them.

"Let him go." It was Scott talking - growling - teeth extended by the sound of it.

The hunters turned, pulling Stiles with them. "This yours?" Mark asked with a bored tone. "He was carrying an offensive weapon. Tying him is purely for our safety."

"And to gather your packs attention." A new voice spoke up, stepping out behind Stiles' friends.

The wolves turned at the voice, Allison and Lydia staying put, watching the two men handling Stiles.

"Why are you here?" Derek asked, alpha voice and posture in full swing.

"Strictly business." The women who appeared to be the leader answered curtly. 

"Does business involve kidnapping a human?" Derek replied, standing tall and watching her carefully.

"A pack with a human member is a vulnerable one, is it not? He wasn't exactly hard to catch, you should have left him at home."

"We did." Derek replied once more. He sounded angry. Stiles shrunk back a little.

The women laughed. "We won't hurt him. Jason, Mark, let him go."

The two men holding Stiles nodded, loosening their grips on his arms and shaking him off as if he were dirt, letting him loose his balance and fall to the rough ground.

Stiles half expected Derek to let go of his alpha stance and help him. He didn't. He didn't even look back to check on his boyfriend. As Stiles stumbled to his feet he hoped the lack of sympathy was because he didn't want the hunters to know about their relationship, in case they used it against them, and not because he was severely pissed at Stiles for disobeying orders.

"We're not going to fight you. We're living here peacefully, keeping track of any rogue omegas before any harm can be done." Erica said after a moment of silence.

The women looked around at her group, and then at the pack. There was only five of the hunters, the pack outnumbering them. She was weighting her odds.

"We'll leave you be, for now. But we'll be keeping an eye on your pack. One slip up and we'll be back, and we aren't against hurting humans in the process." She made a point of looking between Allison, Lydia, and Stiles, the only three who didn't have claws on show.

"We won't." Scott replied, claws out but his teeth away as the three hunters made their way around the pack towards the other two. The leader made a point of pushing Stiles back onto the ground before they left, shoving him hard onto a small pile of stones.

"What the fuck?!" He groaned as he felt the stones dig into his hands and back sharply.

"I'd keep him on a tighter leash, alpha. He seems stubborn." Were her parting words.

When they were out of site Allison and Scott rushed over to Stiles, pulling him into a sitting position and Scott cutting the cable tie binding his wrists.

"Thanks." Stiles mumbled, rubbing his wrists. "Ah shit..." he whined when he noticed a couple of small cuts on his left palm. "Over dramatic mor-"

"Let's get back." Derek declared, striding past the three on the ground without a single glance in their direction.

Scott winced for his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He'll calm down."

Stiles frowned in the direction Derek had disappeared in, allowing Scott to haul him to his feet.

"You alright?" Isaac asks as he walks slightly ahead of them, turning to glance at Stiles.

"I'm fine." Stiles replied, though his voice was small.

At the loft the tense atmosphere was getting to everyone. Derek still hadn't said a word to his boyfriend, not even to offer to help disinfect his tiny wounds - Derek _always_ helps with that.

Stiles cracks around half past midnight, when everyone's ready to head home after ordering and consuming takeaway.

"You can't pretend I don't exist forever, Derek."

The pack suddenly find the re-run of _How I Met Your Mother_ fascinating, as if looking away gives the couple privacy.

"I'm not having this conversation Stiles. Not while I'm so angry."

"Well I am!" Stiles raised his voice, hands flying up in the air. "You haven't spared me a glance all night. What makes tonight any worse than any other time I've ignored your demands?"

Derek looked pained, his usual frown deepening into a scowl. "Because... because they could have kidnapped you! Used you as bait! They were going to!"

Stiles shrugged, "And you lot would have rescued me."

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's possible that we couldn't have. One of us could have been killed."

"That was possible anyway with or without me." Stiles said quickly, still waiting for a reasonable explanation. "Next excuse."

"You never trust me." Derek finally, fucking _finally_ met Stiles' gaze. "You go behind my back, you don't listen to my orders. I can't trust you to follow a plan. That's why I don't want you coming with us."

Stiles took a step back, blinking back a sudden sting behind his eyes. "You don't trust me."

"You're the one that doesn't trust me!"

"No, Derek, _you're_ the one that doesn't trust _me_. You don't think I can help the pack when there's danger. Not without fucking up somehow."

"That's not-"

"Yes it is."

"Stiles-"

"Save it. I'll see you whenever." Stiles was ducking out before anyone could kick up a fuss and when the loft door slid shut with a bang behind him, all eyes landed on Derek, all of them with some sort of anger.

"You're an idiot." Scott said, his frown the deepest of them all.

Derek sighed, turning away from the accusing glares and making his way up the spiral stairs to his room. "Lock the door on your way out." He called down.

The next morning Stiles was woken up by a knock on his bedroom door and his father's voice. "There's a guilty looking boyfriend here to see you, Stiles." He said as he opened the door. Following his father was Derek, head down and forehead creased. "I'll leave you to it." He said after an awkward second of silence, nodding in what appeared to be good luck towards Derek as he left.

"Stiles-"

"Don't." Stiles mumbled, voice sleep heavy. "I've already forgiven you."

Derek looked shocked, frowning in confusion. Or was it suspicion? "You... do?"

Stiles shrugged.

"Stiles, you know I trust you. I just... can't stand the thought of you getting hurt - especially when I'm around to prevent it."

Stiles pulled his duvet up around his shoulders, avoiding the cold as he sat up in his bed. "That's the problem. You shouldn't be worrying about me when there's a rogue omega or unknown hunters in town. You can't watch me twenty-four-seven, I don't need you to. You're my boyfriend, not my bodyguard."

"I didn't mean to make you feel like you can't help."

"I know." Stiles looked up at Derek, motioning him to sit down when he remained standing by the closed door.

"The idea of you being taken, or hurt, or... or _killed._.. it... it kills me, the thought of that. Not before... not before we've-" Derek cut himself off, pulling the corner of Stiles' duvet over his knee to avoid looking at his boyfriend.

"Before what?" He said gently, placing a hand on Derek's shoulder.

Derek looked pained as he looks up to meet Stiles' eyes. "Before... before you've gone to college or... fuck, I don't know Stiles."

"I know you wouldn't let me get hurt." Stiles reassures, sliding his duvet off in favour or sitting closer to Derek, bare legs drapping over his. Derek smiled slightly, holding onto Stiles' thigh and shin gently with each hand.

"I love you." He mumbled, running his hand over Stiles bruised shin. He must have hurt it last night, when he was pushed to the ground. The thought made Derek's blood boil.

Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek's shoulders, a grin spreading across his face and lighting it up. "I love you too."

Derek turned with an equally large grin on his face. "Yeah?"

Stiles chuckles, pulling Derek into a kiss. "Yeah."


End file.
